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CASE STATED. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

New York, 29 William Street, Oct. 8, 1862. 
Hon. Horatio Seymour : 

Sir — I take the liberty of sending to you the inclosed article, signed by my 

name, and which expresses, my. views, without consultation with any political 

organization whatever, upon the duty and sole duty of the Government of the 

United States at this time, which is to suppress the nbeUioti by the military force 

of the country by the most vigorous movements possible I should be pleased 

to know from yourself whether these views meet your approbation, and if not, 

in what respects you dissent from them. 

I have the honor to be, 

Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

and Fellow-Citizen, 

HIRAM KETCHUM. 



ANSWER OF GOV. SEYMOUR. 

New York, Oct. U, 1862. 
Dear Sir: 

I have read with great pleasure your letter published in the Journal of Com- 
merce. Although the questions you put to Congressional Candidates are uot 
addressed to me, I wish to express my satisfaction with your able and clear 
statement of the great questions upon which the People are to decide at this 
election. 

I have already spoken at length upon the topics of your communication. 
The limits of a letter will not allow me to state my views as fully as I have 
already done in my published speeches. I shall therefore only say I cordially. 

concur with your views. 

Truly yours, &c., 

(Signed) HORATIO SEYMOUR. 

Hon. Hiram Ketchum. 

The following is the article alluded to: 






• 1. 



There exists, and for more than a year past there has existed in 
these United States, an insurrection against the Government. The 
insurgents are in arras. It is the duty of the Government to suppress 
the insurrection. Such an event was contemplated as possible at the 
time of the formation of the Constitution, aud power was given to 
suppress insurrection. How must this be done ? By the military 
power of the Government. That power consists of the standing army 
and navy of the country, of volunteer soldiers organized according to 
law, and of the enrolled militia of the several States. All this power 
may be called into active service to put down insurrection, and enforce 
the execution of law, and punish the violation of law. None can dis- 
pute that this power is sufficient to suppress the present insurrection, 
formidable as it is, if properly exerted. There is no other way pro- 
vided by the Constitution to suppress an insurrection; there need be 
no other way. The promptitude and readiness with which the peo- 
ple of this country have volunteered to perform this constitutional 
duty are without parallel in any country.- This promptitude and 
* readiness have been the admiration of the civilized world. The Presi- 
dent of the United States and his political friends in Congress have 
bad, and now have, the sole management and control of the military 
force of the country. The President was without experience, and the 
country too, in suppressing a rebellion so wide-spread and powerful, 
and it waS natural to suppose his administration might commit errors 
and make mistakes in an untried field of duty. This supposition has 
been realized; great errors have been committed, and great mistakes 



have been made, but an indulgent people, loving their Government, 
and loyal to the Constitution, and bent upon putting down rebellion, 
have shown their readiness cheerfully to pardon what seemed amiss, 
in the belief that though there was little practical wisdom, there was 
good intention and patriotic purpose. Still there remains, notwith- 
standing all the failures of the past, an earnest desire and an uncon- 
querable purpose to execute the duty of suppressing the rebellion, in 
the only constitutional way, by the exercise of the military power of 
— :he Government. In this way, and in no other, all true and loyal 
v??itizens can unite in the sentiment, " What v\'e now require is, that 
this battle be fought out, and fought out immediately; that we 
Ight the rebels to-day, and to-morrow, and at all times; that we give 
them rest neither day nor night; that our blows fall thick aaJ fast; 
aiid that there be no intermission in them." 

Allow me to add some reasons which powerfully influence my mind 
■^'for wishing an early termination of this unhappy war. The best, the 
noblest young men of the country are now in the ranks of the army, 
iimpelled to this service by patriotic motives. Thene jewels of the land 
must he cared for. As a father and a Christian, I am painfully anx- 
ious that these young men should be relieved from this service at the 
earliest day possible, and such of them as have not fallen on the 
battle-Geld — and oh! how many have fallen! — should return to their 
ioraes, lest, demoralized by a life in camps, they should be shut out 
'rora the sublimest hopes of humanity. In my judgment, too, the dcar- 
jjst interests of mankind are suspended upon the prompt, vigorous, and 
Successful action of the military department of this Government. 
-Would to God these utterances could penetrate the ear of the 
President of the United States, the General-in-Chief, and every 
officer under their command! 

There is force enough now at the command of the Government; 
and if not, tens of thousands can be added to that force, who will 
execute this requirement; and I entertain the hope that it will be 
done before the close of this year. To this end, and to effect this ob- 
ject, I have exerted to the utmost extent of my ability all the influence, 
small though it be, that I could exercise. In my judgment, what is 



4 

now wanted is, that the people of the loyal States, under the lead of 
the constituted authorities, should manifest increased earnestness to 
suppress the rebellion; that the great reserved force, the enrolled mi- 
litia, should be called out and drilled a portion of every working day, 
so as to be in readiness for immediate action; and that for this pur- 
pose all other business, for at least one or two hours of every such 
day, should be suspended, and the attention of the whole people 
should be concentrated upon this one single paramount obj(ect of sup- 
pressing the rebellion at once. Such a course could not fail to in- 
spire the President, the Generals, and all the forces in the field, with 
more ardent zeal, and more resolute determination to press on the 
columns, and accomplish the object desired, the restoration to the 
whole of the United States of the supremacy of our Coxstitutioxal 
Government. This course I have pressed upon the consideration of 
the Governor of this my native State with all the earnestness that I 
could find language to embody. But in vain. I have anxiously in- 
quired of myself. Why is it in vain ? The only answer I can find to 
this anxious inquiry is, that on the part of those who seek to get 
control of the President, and have to some extent succeeded, there is 
no desire that the war should come to an end until slavery is abol- 
ished in every State in this Union. They would grieve to have the 
seceding States return to their allegiance to-morrow, for then .slavery 
would still continue its existence. Be assured that whatever clamor 
they may make about pressing on the war with vigor, they would 
deeply lament any energetic action which should terminate the war 
and leave with the States in which it exists the exclusive power to 
control the domestic institution of slavery. Hear what one of the 
most distinguished of this abolition party says in the very speech 
from which the passage above quoted is taken. I refer to the sere- 
nade speech lately made by Brigadier-General James S. Wadsworth 
in the City of Washington. He says: " It would be criminal folly 
in the Government if it had overlooked one great element of Southern 
society which may, and will be as we use it, an element of weakness 
or of strength — to have overlooked or forgotten that we are fighting 
against an aristocracy supported by slavery; and it would have been 






worse than folly to suppose that vst could suppress the rebellion and yet 
save that aristocracy." The Republican simplicity of General Wads- 
worth makes him abhor aristocracy and aristocrats. Oh how he 
hates them! Had he been contemporary with Washington, Jefiferson, 
Madison, Monroe, and Chief Justice Marshall, how studiously would 
he have avoided the society of these aristocrats! 

The constitutional duty of the Government is to suppress the in- 
surrection — General Wadsworth desires the President and the Ad- 
ministration to put down slavery — to suppress aristocracy in the States 
where it is found. Where did the General Government get the au- 
thority to put down a State aristocracy — such an alleged aristocracy, 
too, as existed in almost every State in this Union when the Consti- 
tution was formed ? Our sons and brothers and friends must lay 
down their lives on the battle-field to exterminate aristocracy. Did 
they volunteer for that? They thought it was to suppress insurrec- 
tion that they shouldered their muskets and drew their swords. It 
has been admitted on all hands, heretofore, that the institution of 
slavery is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the re- 
spective States in which it is found to exist. The well-established 
principle is clearly stated in the platform on which Mr. Lincoln was 
elected, in these words: "That the maintenance inviolate of the rights 
of a State, and especially the right of each State to order and con- 
trol its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment ex- 
clusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfec- 
tion and endurance of our political fabric depends." 

I know it will be admitted that in time of peace no power vests in 
the General Government to control the domestic institutions of a 
State, but this power is claimed in a time of domestic insurrection, 
when a war actually exists. I should like to argue this as a Consti- 
tutional question with General Wadsworth, or any of his political 
associates, before any impartial and unprejudiced judicial tribunal in 
the civilized world, but I will not enter upon that argument here. 
One thing, however, I will take leave to say — that no greater power 
exists in this Government to declare the emancipation of slaves in the 
respective States, because of civil war, than was possessed by Great 



\ 



Britain as a belligerent in the war of 1812 to declare such emancipa- 
tion. This Government then denied the power, and was able to 
maintain such denial. Before such a tribunal as the one supposed 
General Wadsworth would reap no advantage from his high birth 
and large possessions. These have given him the assurance to criti- 
cise the course of military action pursued by his superior in com- 
mand, Major-General McClellak, with a freedom and severity 
quite unauthorized by the rank and military experience of General 
Wadsworth. Censure cast upon a superior military officer for his 
professional course of action, calculated to impair the confidence of 
the army in him, is reprehensible in any man*, in a military subordin- 
ate it is not consistent with the character of an officer or a patriot. 

General McClellan yet survives the attacks made on him by Gen- 
eral Wadsworth and others; he possesses the confidence of his Gov- 
ernment, and tiie devoted attachment of the army under his command, 
maintaining the character of a soldier, a scholar, a gentleman, and, 
more than all, of a Great Conqueror, for he has learned to rule his 
own spirit, and when reviled, he reviles not again. He is inferior to 
General Wadsworth in nothing save in the possession of large vv'ealth. 

The power of this Government to emancipate slaves is claimed be- 
cause the exercise of the power, it is alleged, is necessary to suppress 
the rebellion. The fiict of such necessity is denied. On the contrary, 
it is affirmed with great confidence that the policy of emancipation 
avowed by the Administration will serve only to render the suppres- 
sion of the rebellion more difficult of accomplishment, prolong the war, 
increase the expense of the Government, and more than all, will re- 
quire a greater sacrifice of human life. This is easily shown. So far 
as universal emancipation has been attempted by Congress or the 
President, it has created division among the people of the loyal States; 
a large number of this people compose the rank and file of the army; 
the camps are divided; such division prevents union, not only in sen- 
timent, but in action. This impairs the strength and efficiency of the 
loyal States in suppressing the insurrection. No such division would 
have been created, if the single constitutional object of suppressing 
the insurrection had been declared to be the purpose and policy of the 



Government. This purpose would have been prosecuted with as much 
zeal by the soldiers of Kentucky and Missouri as the soldiers of New 
York and Massachusetts. 

While the avowed policy of emancipation cools the ardor, and thus 
weakens the loyal States, it strengthens the rebels by uniting them, 
and intensifying their rebellious sentiments. This result is sufSciently 
demonstrated by what we know of the enemy. Not that it makes 
the leaders more desperate, for that would be impossible, but it fur- 
nishes these leaders with an argument to shake the Gdelity of such of 
their followers, and there were many such, who yet cherished an attach- 
ment to the Union. This argument may be briefly stated thus: — 
" We told you that a Republican administration would abolish sla- 
very; you disbelieved it, but you now see they are attempting it; we 
are therefore proved to be right; secession or rebellion upon the com- 
ing in of the Lincoln administration stands justified, and must be per- 
severed in." 

These are the actual and clearly manifested consequences of attempt- 
ing more than the suppression of the rebellion. 

The conclusion is, that the advocates and supporters of the right 
and expediency of declaring universal emancipation by the Federal 
Government in order to suppress this unhappy insurrection, have 
committed a great error, and they nrc to be resisted at the ballot-box 
and on the hustings with all the power and influence that patriotic 
citizens can employ. There cannot be any doubt on this subject in 
ony sound mind. It is no answer to say that slavery is wrong and 
ought to be abolished; that caunot make usurpation right. When 
emancipation comes, as come it will under the influence of an enlight* 
ened public sentiment, let it be the result of legislation acknowledged 
to be lawful. Usurpation is the great enemy of popular liberty. 
Power must be taken in a ponccful, constitutional manner, from the 
hands of those who would accomplish emancipation by usurpation of 
power. What one Congress has done, another Congress can undo. The 
power to change their representatives is with the people; the place 
to inaugurate that change is at the ballot-box. To that ballot-box 
let us all rally. The questions to be decided there are: Ist. Shall 



8 

we suppress the rebellioa in the shortest time possible, by the use of 
constitutional means, and leave the institution of slavery where it was 
left at the formation of the Constitution, in common with all other 
questions of domestic legislation, subject to the jurisdiction of the 
States respectively ? or 2d. Shall we, in suppressing the rebellion, 
destroy the institution of slavery, set the slaves in the whole country 
free, with full power to assert and maintain for themselves, by force 
or otherwise, equal political and social rights with their former mas- 
ters ? 

For one, I will not support any candidate for Congress at the en- 
suing election who will not fully and unhesitatingly answer the first 
of these questions in the aflfirmative, nor will I support any candidate 
for Congress who answers the second question in the affirmative. I 
shall do nothing to promote servile war, and when the contest 
comes between races of men, my place is by the side of the white 
man. 

I belong to no political party organization, never having joined 
any since the Whig party ceased to exist; but I call upon every 
Whig, and every son of a Whig, in this State and out of it, to stand 
by the Constitution of our fathers, and to resist, with all his power 
and influence, every attempt to subvert or impair this sacred instru- 
ment, or any of its provisions. It came to us recommended by 
George Washington; it was ratified by a most intelligent and 
thoughtful people; we have prospered under it. It is our only bond 
OF Union. 

HIRAM KETCHUM. 



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